Kamne is the proto-language of a large language family whose member languages are spoken on the Northern and Central Continents of the planet Tlanare.
(The following abbreviations are used in this discussion: <ag> -- agent, agr – agreement, <go> -- goal, <in> -- instrument, <lo> -- location, <pa> -- patient, <so> -- source, <th> -- theme, Ø – unmarked, X1…Y1 – X agrees with Y.)
Some salient characteristics of Kamne are:
1. Nouns are marked for karaka (thematic role), rather than case.
2. Nouns are divided into classes, like Bantu noun classes except that there are a large number of them (more than 40), and they are marked by suffix not prefix.
3. Verbs with 3rd-person subjects agree with the class of their subjects.
4. Each verb takes a set of obligatory arguments (e.g. hossa ‘strike’ must have the arguments <ag, pa>). Verbs may also take optional arguments (usually <in, lo, go, so> are optional). Arguments form a hierarchy – from highest to lowest: <ag, pa, th, in, lo, go, so>. Any argument of a verb may serve as subject; if a lower obligatory argument is elevated to subject, the higher ones need not be expressed. Thus:
Imna-s hossa-na gagya
Priest1-<ag> strike-agr1 physician<pa>
‘The priest struck the physician’
‘By the priest there was striking of the physician.’
But:
Gagya hossa-ya (imna-s)
Physician1<pa> strike-agr1 priest-<ag>.
‘The physician was struck (by the priest)’
‘Of the physician there was striking (by the priest).’
The use of the English passive gives only an approximation of the difference between the two sentences. Kamne makes no distinction between active and passive. Rather, difference of emphasis is signaled by using different karakas as subject. The only change in the verb is that it shows different agreement with the different subjects. The second ‘idiomatic’ English translation under each sentence is an attempt to convey this.
5. Nouns may optionally be marked for possessor. There is no genitive or possessive form. The following is an example of a possessive construction:
tera-do-l imdo
courtyard-agr1-<lo> temple1Ø.
‘in the courtyard of the temple’ (more literally: ‘in its1 courtyard, the temple1’).
The following Cluedo-inspired sentence will be used to illustrate further the use of the karakas:
Imna-s hossa-na gagya semtu yinni-m tera-do-l imdo.
Priest1-<ag> strike-agr1 physician<pa> head<pa> candlestick-<in> courtyard-agr2-<lo> temple2Ø.
‘The priest struck the physician on the head with a candlestick in the courtyard of the temple.’
The exact same meaning can be expressed by using any argument as subject. The subject always immediately precedes the verb, which agrees with it:
Gagya hossa-ya imna-s semtu yinni-m tera-do-l imdo.
Semtu hossa-tu imna-s gagya yinni-m tera-do-l imdo.
Yinni-m hossa-ni imna-s gagya semtu tera-do-l imdo.
Tera-do-l imdo hossa-ra imna-s gagya semtu yinni-m.
Kamne
Re: Kamne
Here is the Babel text. It appears to be in a somewhat different dialect from the one above: for one thing, there is no subject-verb agreement.
Pronunciation note: <x, X> = /x/.
Ye megte dahsa iwa yilme keyla ne hodwagem gimge.
And all the land was one language and few words.
So dammum iwa gen harrenebas Zaytoz,
And then (it) was when they had travelled from the East,
gen talmeba dargam dahsan Xinar, so zembewabas niyan.
when they found a plain in the land (of) Shinar, and they were dwelling there.
So hannas key tasnunak, Ommales!
And a man said to his friend, Come!
Mulduzagonde muldumaka so kinragonde kinramattak.
We will brick bricks and we will burn to a burning.
Ye muldu iwa mennem banak, ye sormem iwa mulga banak.
And the bricks were as stone to them, and as mortar was the clay to them.
So keybas, Ommales! Xalnagonde milek giwta ne zayba, ye semtuba ilyan,
And they said, Come! We will build for us a city and a tower, and its head in the sky,
so zagonde milek gama, pehak hayisende yebda nimanon megte zewno.
And we will make for us a name so that we should not scatter on the face of the whole earth.
So Yahwes emga, pehak manse giwtam ne zaybam,
And Yahweh descended, so that he might see the city and the tower
ge xalnane tulnobanzes Renze.
which had built the sons of Mankind.
So Yahwes key, Nanno, yil mazwa ne yil keyla mantek bana,
And Yahweh said, Behold! One nation and one language for all (of) them,
ye etu zakabas. Ye gayna, hayigo wala banak,
and this they begin to do. And now, will not be denied to them,
megte ge zunnagobas peha zasebas tuna. Ommales!
all that they will plot that they should do it. Come!
Emgagonde, so duxpagont keylaba niyan,
We will go down, and confuse their language there,
pehak hayigoba sennu hanna keylanum tasnuna.
so that will not understand a man the language of his friend.
So Yahwes yebdabat niyaz nimanon megte zewno,
and then Yahweh scattered them from there on the face of all the earth,
ye kogyabas xalna giwta. Etum gamza gamata Babelme,
and they ceased building the city. For this (reason) was named its name Babel,
peham niyan duxpa Yahwes keylano megte zewno,
because there confused Yahweh the language of all the earth,
ye niyaz yebdabat Yahwes nimanon megte zewno.
and from there scattered them Yahweh on the face of all the earth.
Pronunciation note: <x, X> = /x/.
Ye megte dahsa iwa yilme keyla ne hodwagem gimge.
And all the land was one language and few words.
So dammum iwa gen harrenebas Zaytoz,
And then (it) was when they had travelled from the East,
gen talmeba dargam dahsan Xinar, so zembewabas niyan.
when they found a plain in the land (of) Shinar, and they were dwelling there.
So hannas key tasnunak, Ommales!
And a man said to his friend, Come!
Mulduzagonde muldumaka so kinragonde kinramattak.
We will brick bricks and we will burn to a burning.
Ye muldu iwa mennem banak, ye sormem iwa mulga banak.
And the bricks were as stone to them, and as mortar was the clay to them.
So keybas, Ommales! Xalnagonde milek giwta ne zayba, ye semtuba ilyan,
And they said, Come! We will build for us a city and a tower, and its head in the sky,
so zagonde milek gama, pehak hayisende yebda nimanon megte zewno.
And we will make for us a name so that we should not scatter on the face of the whole earth.
So Yahwes emga, pehak manse giwtam ne zaybam,
And Yahweh descended, so that he might see the city and the tower
ge xalnane tulnobanzes Renze.
which had built the sons of Mankind.
So Yahwes key, Nanno, yil mazwa ne yil keyla mantek bana,
And Yahweh said, Behold! One nation and one language for all (of) them,
ye etu zakabas. Ye gayna, hayigo wala banak,
and this they begin to do. And now, will not be denied to them,
megte ge zunnagobas peha zasebas tuna. Ommales!
all that they will plot that they should do it. Come!
Emgagonde, so duxpagont keylaba niyan,
We will go down, and confuse their language there,
pehak hayigoba sennu hanna keylanum tasnuna.
so that will not understand a man the language of his friend.
So Yahwes yebdabat niyaz nimanon megte zewno,
and then Yahweh scattered them from there on the face of all the earth,
ye kogyabas xalna giwta. Etum gamza gamata Babelme,
and they ceased building the city. For this (reason) was named its name Babel,
peham niyan duxpa Yahwes keylano megte zewno,
because there confused Yahweh the language of all the earth,
ye niyaz yebdabat Yahwes nimanon megte zewno.
and from there scattered them Yahweh on the face of all the earth.
Re: Kamne
And here is a well-known prayer:
Tanhamba, ge iwa ilyan, aydase gamawe.
Zise osdangarhewe; zase gonnowe, zewnon sey ilyan.
Yonmibak enan gehna sorwambat megtegehnawa, so mazdamba leykezatambam, sey peha miba mazdaba, ges leykezambak.
So hayi salkambat rowdemattak, wox dimyambat kagmez.
Peham etuwe iwa osdangarhe ne durwo ne demyuna, yiltun ne yiltuk, ise etum.
Do people feel that this language is plausible?
Tanhamba, ge iwa ilyan, aydase gamawe.
Zise osdangarhewe; zase gonnowe, zewnon sey ilyan.
Yonmibak enan gehna sorwambat megtegehnawa, so mazdamba leykezatambam, sey peha miba mazdaba, ges leykezambak.
So hayi salkambat rowdemattak, wox dimyambat kagmez.
Peham etuwe iwa osdangarhe ne durwo ne demyuna, yiltun ne yiltuk, ise etum.
Do people feel that this language is plausible?
Re: Kamne
I get the feeling Tagalog was partly behind the inspiration of this. The saliency of thematic role gives that feeling, and it is augmented by the, for lack of better words, clumsiness of English equivalencies.
It has a natural feel to it. There are some unique aspects that are surely uncommon in my experience, mainly that thematic role, but still feel nice none the less.
What are you using it for, just out of curiosity?
It has a natural feel to it. There are some unique aspects that are surely uncommon in my experience, mainly that thematic role, but still feel nice none the less.
What are you using it for, just out of curiosity?
Formerly a vegetable
Re: Kamne
Yes, grammatically it is modelled on Tagalog and Malagasy, though they both mark the thematic role assignment on the verb rather than the noun.
There is also some Turkish influence in the fact that it is agglutinative and suffiixing; and I wanted it to have a very free word order, because I'm fascinated by nonconfigurational languages like Warlbiri.
The language is a proto-language in my conworld. It will have at least five daughters, perhaps more. This accounts for the phonology, which is designed to be changeable.
There is also some Turkish influence in the fact that it is agglutinative and suffiixing; and I wanted it to have a very free word order, because I'm fascinated by nonconfigurational languages like Warlbiri.
The language is a proto-language in my conworld. It will have at least five daughters, perhaps more. This accounts for the phonology, which is designed to be changeable.